Immediately Release Student Activist Arash Sadeghi in Iran! URGENT CARE NEEDED!

*Update July 2013*

Where is Arash Sadeghi??

""We have found out that Arash is under a hunger strike and has been violently mistreated by prison agents. But our efforts to get more information about him have produced no results," the father of this student prisoner told Rooz.

http://www.payvand.com/news/13/jun/1136.html

*Update May 31, 2012*

Arash Sadeghi is currently on hunger strike in solidarity with blogger Hossein Ronaghi Maleki!

Report by Kaleme - May 30, 2012

(Translation thank you to Laleh Irani)

Hossein Ronaghi Maleki writes letter to Arash Sadeghi: "Your resistance and camaraderie have been proven to me, end your hunger strike"

Seyed Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, imprisoned blogger who launched a hunger strike on May 26, 2012 in protest of his mistreatment and interference by the IRGC and the Intelligence Agency in his case, preventing the upholding of the law and legal procedures, blocking judicial independence, impeding the rights of political prisoners and their families, wrote a letter to his friend imprisoned student Arash Sadeghi, who is being held behind bars in Ward 209 of Evin prison.

According to Kalame, imprisoned student activist Arash Sadeghi launched a hunger strike several days ago in support of his friend Hossein Ronaghi Maleki. Arash Sadeghi was able to visit briefly with his grandfather after 4 months of no visitations while being held in solitary confinement. Arash revealed that during this time, he was interrogated every 3 weeks.

Arash Sadeghi, a student activist from Allameh Tabatabai University was first arrested after the contested presidential elections of 09, on July 9th, and released after enduring 50 days in solitary confinement. He was arrested again on December 09 following the Ashura protests and released on March 6, 2010.

Branches 28 and 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court sentenced Arash Sadeghi to 3 and 6 years respectively. The appellate court reduced the total to one year behind bars plus a 4 year suspended sentence. This student was released after enduring 18 months behind bars even though the court had issued him a one-year sentence.

Last winter while he was visiting the grave of his mother with his grandfather and grandmother, Arash was again arrested. His mother had passed away at her home due to the shock and stress inflicted by security agents.

Source: http://www.kaleme.com/1391/03/10/klm-102148/

*Update March 31, 2011*

Imprisoned student activist Arash Sadeghi fell into coma, transferred to hospital!

According to the Daneshjoo News website, since the onset of Arash Sadeghi’s hunger strike on March 15, 2010 until the present, his physical condition has severely deteriorated. The effects of torture by government agents has been so severe that student activist Arash Sadeghi fell into a coma today, forcing the Evin prison officials to transfer him to Modarres hospital.

A few days ago, due to the tortures inflicted on Arash Sadeghi in ward 209 of Evin prison, his shoulder blade and ribs were broken. The prison guards refused to send Arash Sadeghi to the prison clinic. Instead, he was transferred to solitary confinement.

According to the Arash Sadeghi Facebook page, prison officials informed the Sadeghi family that their son passed out as a result of severe weakness.

In a phone conversation with Arash Sadeghi’s family members, security officials instructed them to not visit him in the hospital since it is not permitted. Nevertheless, Arash Sadeghi’s family still intended to go.

http://persian2english.com/?p=21326

*UPDATE March 18, 2011*

March 17, 2011 RAHANA – After enduring severe torture and being subjected to intense pressures, Arash Sadeghi has been transferred to solitary confinement once again by prison officials.

According to Daneshjoo News and Arash Sadeghi’s Facebook fan page, Arash has been subjected to brutal interrogations and torture due to going public in recounting circumstances leading to his mother’s death and granting interviews with news organizations that are not in line with the regime.

According to reports, Arash was severely beaten and tortured, resulting in his shoulder being broken. After he somewhat sustained from his injuries, the prison officials intended to take him to the hospital, but Arash objected to having his hands and feet shackled and therefore refused to go unless the shackles were removed.

After Arash took this stance, prison officials were aggravated by his perseverance and resistance, so they transferred him to solitary confinement once again.

It is reported that Arash was attacked because he refuted the regime’s account of the circumstances resulting in his mother’s death. He is also under intense pressure due to his refusal to grant interviews with state-run media.

Meanwhile, his prison furlough request for the Persian new year was denied. He is now required to spend the first month of the new year by himself in solitary confinement.

It is worth mentioning, previously Arash’s family had brought clothes to him in prison, but prison officials didn’t allow the clothes to be delivered. They also said that Arash is not allowed any visitors.

http://persian2english.com/?p=20931

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January 15, 2011 – Arash Sadeghi, student activist at Allameh Tabatabai University and one of the active students during the 2009 presidential elections is in need of urgent medical attention as a result of the physical and psychological torture he has endured while in prison.

According to reports by the Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners, Sadeghi was first arrested July 9, 2009, after altercations between students, security forces, and plain clothes agents at Tehran University dormitories, when he was arrested at his father’s residence. Sadeghi’s family who were left in the dark regarding his whereabouts were initially under the impression that Sadeghi had also been killed during the post election incidents.

They later ascertained that Sadeghi was being held at the Sepah’s Ward 2A in Evin Prison and had endured extensive torture during his arrest. Sadeghi described the torture he endured at the hands of his interrogators as follows:

- He was hung from the ceiling from one leg and left hanging for long periods of time (up to 5 hours).
- He was slapped for two to three hours causing damage to his eye, optic nerves and tearing of his ear drum.
- He was forced to lick the filthy toilet bowl and its content.
- Interrogators urinated on his face while holding his mouth open.
- He was banned from bathing despite the aforementioned conditions.
- He was pushed down from a height of two to three meters causing damage to the tendons in his legs.
- He was dragged on scorching hot asphalt resulting in severe damage to his skin.
- He was beaten repeatedly in the neck with a baton resulting in damage to his vertebrae in his neck.

According to Sadeghi, interrogators demanded that he confess to “membership in Iran’s Mojahedin Khalgh Organization (MKO)” and other falsities while being video taped. Sadeghi was extensively tortured after refusing to comply with such demands and was kept in solitary confinement for a period of 50 days. After enduring endless, excruciating torture Sadeghi was thrown out of a vehicle and left unconscious in East Tehran.

Sadeghi was arrested a second time on December 27, 2009 in Tehran during Ashura demonstrations and was later released on $50,000 bail in April of 2010. Sadeghi was also arrested twice in May of the same year, but released both times after short term detentions.

On November 10, 2010, Sadeghi’s sentenced was reduced by the Appeals Court from 6 years prison and 74 lashings, to 5 years in prison. After Sadeghi’s sentence was announced, without any prior notice or summoning by the court, security forces brutally raided his parents’ residence at 4:00am in the morning in order to arrest him. The sudden raid and ruthless behavior by security forces led to Sadeghi’s mother suffering a heart attack, being hospitalized, and then passing away after four days of hospitalization.

In an interview right after his mother’s death, an extremely depressed Sadeghi stated: “My family hold me responsible for my mother’s death. Life has becoming a living hell. All I want is to return to prison.”

While in prison Sadeghi released a statement on the occasion of Iran’s Student Day [on December 7th]. This led to his transfer to solitary confinement at the Intelligence Ministry’s Ward 209 at Evin prison where he was severely beaten by interrogators leaving him with a broken shoulder and loss of control in his legs.

Sadeghi then went on a 14 day hunger strike protesting the torture he had endured while in solitary confinement and was eventually transferred back to the general ward at Evin. According to his cell mates, as a result of the extensive torture he endured, Sadeghi is unable to stand and continues to suffer from a broken shoulder. In addition as a result of his hunger strike, Sadeghi now suffers from a bleeding ulcer and other ailments such as a lung infection. Despite his dire physical condition, Sadeghi has been deprived of medical attention and a psychological and physical evaluation.

Source: The Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners
Report: http://persian2english.com/?p=18957
Translation by: Banooye Sabz